Ware County’s Lady Gators moved into a tie atop the Region 1-AAAAA standings with a pair of weekend wins increasing their winning streak to five games.
The Lady Gators (15-4 overall, 5-1 region), ranked 11th by MaxPreps, completed the season sweep Friday, January 20 of visiting No. 44 Jenkins (4-15, 0-7), losers of eight straight after a 66-13 thrashing. Ware County won January 6 meeting in Savannah, 51-18.
Ware County followed Saturday, January 21 with a 36-27 win at Statesboro (15-5, 4-2), ranked ninth by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and sixth by MaxPreps. The meeting was the first between the programs since the 2019-20 campaign.
The Lady Blue Devils, who have lost two straight, had won four of the last five meetings from 2018-19 to 2019-20. Ware County captured six of seven from 2014-15 through 2017-18.
The Lady Gators traveled Tuesday to Hinesville to face AJC third-ranked Bradwell Institute in a matchup of the top two teams in the region. The Lady Tigers suffered their first region loss Saturday at Greenbrier.
Ware County will entertain Coffee Friday, January 27 at 7 p.m., and Greenbrier Saturday, January 28 at 5 p.m., to wrap up the three-game slate.
Lady Gators 66
Jenkins 13
Trinity Jenkins’ 14 points outpaced the Lady Warriors leading Ware County to the easy win.
Charlacia Jones and Charlese McClendon joined Jenkins in double figures scoring 12 points apiece as nine different players scored for the Lady Gators.
Ware County scored all the points it would need in the opening frame racing out to a 20-2 lead. The Lady Gators continued their torrid scoring over the second period using a 22-3 scoring advantage to open up a 42-5 halftime lead.
The scoring slowed for Ware County in the third period while the defense continued to shine in a 14-2 run stretching the margin to 56-7. The Lady Gators closed the “mercy rule” fourth quarter with a 10-6 scoring advantage.
CoCo Moody and Rhi Mateyka were next on the Ware County scoring chart with eight points apiece. Aniyah Wesley and Kyla McKelvin followed with four points and three points respectively. Lydia Munford and Aniston Delk chipped in two points each.
Lady Gators 36
No. 9 Statesboro 27
The Lady Gators used a 23-12 scoring advantage over the final 16 minutes to rally past the Blue Devils in a defensive battle.
Ware County managed just three field goals over the first two periods staying in the game by connecting on 7-of-8 free throws. The Lady Gators finished the game making 15-of-21 attempts to just nine made field goals.
Statesboro jumped ahead 13-11 by the end of the first quarter. Each team scored two points in the second stanza — two free throws by Ware County and a two-point basket by the Lady Blue Devils.
Down 15-13, the Lady Gators surpassed their first-half production outscoring the home team 15-4 in the third period to open up a 28-19 advantage. The Lady Blue Devils chipped one point off the deficit over the final eight minutes outscoring Ware County 9-8.
McClendon and Jenkins matched Statesboro’s point total. McClendon finished with a game-high 16 points (12 in the second half) with Jenkins adding 11 points going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Jones netted five points, Wesley chipped in three points and Alexis McNeal canned a free throw.
Statesboro was paced by Reya Johnson’s 13 points.
